Tag Archives: microsoft

A poster in the Windows Phone Central forums uploaded images of his Surface Tablet, which still works after being run over by a car

It's doubtful whether any owner of a new Microsoft Surface Tablet would perform the following test on purpose, but a poster in the Windows Phone Central forums has unwittingly discovered what happens when you run over the device with a car.

You know how sometimes, before getting in your car, you'll forget a cup of coffee on the roof of the car, only to have it whip off into the road a block or two away? Well, this unfortunate man did more or less the same thing, but with a his tablet.

Aside from some superficial dents and scratches, the tablet is still intact

Noticing some trash cans that needed to be taken in outside his house, he set the Surface Tablet on the car roof and, forgetting all about it, drove off to work. Naturally, as soon as he realized what he'd doe, he turned right around and drove back the direction he came from, to find his Surface Tablet lying in the middle of the road:

"[I] watched the last group of traffic drove by. Each car passed by with the tires on each side of the Surface until the very last car. The tire of the car ran completely over the Surface and next thing I saw was my brand new $700 tablet and touch cover flying through the air in separate directions!"

Long story short, the poor guy was delighted when he opened up the tablet and found that, not only was the screen completely intact but that, hitting the power button, everything worked as it should.

"The Surface feels completely sturdy, exactly like how I got it. Everything works in it, even the touch cover (which got a slight tear in it) works completely fine! Microsoft has made such an incredible product, I am completely speechless how this could happen!," he wrote.

The tablet has a few scratches dents and dings, but otherwise survived no worse for wear. Needless to say, the poster is pretty happy about his choice of tablets, writing: "This product is insane! I would love to see what an iPad looks like after getting run over by a car going 60 mph!"

"There is not a single scratch nor crack in the screen!" wrote the relieved tablet owner

There's no telling how a Microsoft-made smartphone would affect the company's dealings with hardware partners

Right on the tails of a major week for Microsoft's Windows Phone 8, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Microsoft may be developing a smartphone of its own to go with its new OS.

The November 2 article, which cites "officials at some of Microsoft's parts suppliers, who declined to be named," says the company is running tests in Asia on their own smartphone, a device measuring between 4 and 5 inches.

However, the article's sources say the company is still undecided as to whether the device in question will ever go into mass production. And, when asked about the phone by the WSJ last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer declined to comment.

Still, the possibility is intriguing. Should Microsoft come out with their own handset to accompany Windows Phone 8, it's anybody's guess how that would affect its partnership with hardware partners, like Samsung, HTC, and Nokia. After all, Apple certainly doesn't let competitors use its smartphone OS.

And, if Microsoft really is planning to launch its own mobile device, it would be a complete 180 for them, after years of developing the software and leaving the design up to others.

Even so, as Gizmodo points out, a Microsoft-made smartphone could be a thing of beauty:

"Microsoft’s eye for design is keener than ever, and while WinPho is great, it’s yet to make the impressions it could. Or even should. A Microsoft phone could change that."

But don't get carried away. Quoting an older article on its own site, Gizmodo cautioned:

"Even if these reports turn out to be totally accurate — and that’s far from certain — this does not mean that Microsoft is close to actually making a phone you can buy. It doesn’t even mean it ever will. Just that it’s developing the hardware, and testing it. That’s it."

Microsoft put the finishing touches on a massive month this week, with the global launch of Windows Phone 8 Monday, and the Build developer conference Tuesday.

The company already launched their extra-sized Surface Tablet earlier this month, as well as holding their Windows 8 event.

But what most of us were really waiting for was windows Phone 8, and now it's here. Touted by the event's speakers as "the most personal smartphone operating system you can get," Microsoft began by highlighting the growing number of apps for Windows Phone, 120,000 and counting.

However, speakers stressed that people, not apps, are the focus of the revamped OS, and called out Apple and Android for not doing enough to really change smartphones since they arrived on the scene.

As such, Microsoft is banking a lot on one of Windows Phone 8's main features, "live apps." Live apps move like live tiles and update themselves, so that your phone becomes like your fingerprint, says Microsoft.

"For example, the Facebook app updates the lock screen with your personal photos," explains WebProNews. "A number of app developers including Twitter, Zynga and Rovio are updating their apps to take advantage of live apps."

That brings us to what TechCrunch says the "future of the Windows 8 platform," hinges on – the developers.

Because the OS – nevermind the idea of live tiles – is so new, Microsoft's going to have to lure developers to it for it to really take off. At the moment, says TechCrunch, the number of new Windows 8 apps is "underwhelming," and that may explain the somewhat middling reviews Microsoft's Surface Tablet has received:

"Most of the reviewers cited the lack of apps – and not the hardware itself – as one of the reasons they didn’t enjoy the experience."

But as he took the stage to kick off the Build developer conference, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer already had some positive news about the new OS' reception, saying that there have already been 4 million Windows 8 upgrades in just the few days since its launch. Hopefully some of those interested parties are developers.

But as for regular users who want to get in on the new OS, Windows Phone 8 will be globally available by November across a number of devices, including the Nokia Lumia, and HTC and Samsung smartphones.

Now that the launch of the Surface tablet is history and the Windows 8 hoopla will be behind them today, Microsoft is revving up for their next event: release of the new devices that will run on Windows Phone 8. Lucky for all of us, Microsoft will live stream the event to be held in San Francisco on Monday, October 29th. Get ready for a broadcast at 10am PST.

Microsoft will also show off more Windows Phone 8 features like Xbox Music, new competition for Spotify and iTunes. “There are a whole series of…new capabilities and features that will come that we haven’t talked about and there’s integration with Windows 8 that we’ll demo closer to the date,” promises Greg Sullivan, Microsoft’s Windows Phone senior product manager.

Both product manufacturers and wireless providers have been announcing they'll be showing off a range of Windows Phone 8 devices at the event. The lineup includes HTC’s Windows Phone 8X and 8S, Samsung’s ATIV S, Nokia’s Lumia 820 and 920, and Verizon’s exclusive Nokia Lumia 822 (aka the Atlas). There’s also an outside possibility that ZTE will be there with a Windows Phone 8 device, too.

Hopefully Microsoft will be specific about shipment dates for Windows Phone 8 devices. So far, we've only heard that they will begin shipping in November.

In the meantime, Microsoft is showing its new Windows 8 to the world today.

Finally some pictures have surfaced with close-ups of a device that might be the next generation of Nokia phones.Up till now, we’ve only had leaked pictures, component images and patent application drawings to fuel speculation about what Nokia’s very unique Windows Phone 8 might look like.

The phone in the pics has a boxy design, like the shape of a deck of cards. One of my first thoughts: if you aren't connected by Bluetooth or a headset, the edges might make it tiring to hold for a long period of time.

The views also show elongated speaker grilles down one whole side. The phone is supposed to feature DTS sound - multichannel audio technology that is known for surround sound formats. The poor quality of speaker sound in portable devices today is almost as big a deal as battery life. DTS could mean a big leap forward in the audio experience. From a design standpoint, we can't imagine speakers extended the whole length of the handset. Maybe it's just for effect.

There's a lot that pictures can't tell. So the rumors of specs like a quad-core SoC, 12-megapixel camera and 4.5-inch HD screen should be taken with a big grain of salt.

Of course, this is all just a guess at whether these models are sourced from Nokia or rendered from legitimate hardware images or specs, but they are interesting. Maybe, we'll hear more on September 5th when Nokia and Microsoft hold their press event.

No matter what, a boxy design like this would be a real departure from the Apple, HTC and Samsung smooth, rounder edged and stylized cases we love right now. Windows 8 or not, I'd feel like Nokia's new device is drawing attention to my hand the way my eyes can't help but notice to a Nissan Cube on the street.

Nokia has partnered with Microsoft and plans to get back into the smartphone game with the launch of Windows 8-based devices. According to a source who prefers to remain anonymous, Nokia will be making their plans public at Nokia World next month.

Nokia officials aren’t commenting on the rumors, but Arnaud Bauduin, a Paris-based fund manager at Ofi Asset Management said on the matter, “To come back, they either need to surf on a Microsoft success in mobile or become cool again -- two complicated challenges.”

Nokia’s Lumia devices entered the market 9 months ago, but service providers like AT&T chose not to carry them. Since many customers didn't know about the existence of the Lumia devices, this had a huge negative impact on sales.

To improve the visibility of the phones, Nokia will be using volunteers from its U.S. staff called Nokia’s Army, to work with the salespeople at the major carriers. Nokia’s Army will focus on educating the sales staff and customers about the Lumia alternative.

Nokia believes that timing of the launch of their new Windows 8-based devices is key. They plan to have their smartphones on the store shelves ahead of Apple’s expected Sept. 12 unveiling of the new iPhone.

Nokia has a lot of ground to make up. Their U.S. market share is at approximately 2% as Q2 this year. In 2001, it peaked at 32 percent.

If you want to catch a glimpse of an early build of Windows Phone 7.8 running on a Nokia Lumia 900, check out the YouTube video by a Microsoft senior manager at Microsoft’s Redmond campus.

The following video demonstrates live tile resizing in all three modes - small, medium and large – and how this affects the amount of information displayed on the tile. For example a small SMS live tile gives you the number of unread messages. A large tile provides the number of unread messages and a quick preview of them.

Microsoft has a page dedicated to announcements about upgrades in WP 7.8. If you have a Microsoft account you’ll be able to access the page here.

Among other WP 7.8 highlights are updates about a new Start screen, new ways to share contacts and track data usage, enhancements to the camera used in the NokiaLumia 900 and news about the current inventory of over 100K Windows Phone apps.

Microsoft’s new Window Phone 8 OS won’t get installed on any of the current Windows Phone devices because they are based on a different core- Windows CE (Windows Phone 7) versus Windows NT (Windows Phone 8). Windows Phone 8 will support significant improvements including multiple CPU cores and better graphics.

Microsoft’s senior marketing manager for Windows Phone Greg Sullivan stated that, while it can be done, porting WP8 on older devices would be very expensive. He also stated that the WP8 requires functions like multi-core support, higher resolution screens, NFC and microSD card support. The legacy device hardware can’t make use of Windows Phone 8 upgrades.

Microsoft is attempting to make it up to current Windows Phone users with a Windows Phone 7 update (WP 7.8). It’s most noticeable change is a more user-friendly Start screen.

Users who buy Windows Phone 8-compatible devices, will be able to migrate their Windows Phone 7 apps. There's no backwards compatibility for the newly developed WP8 apps though and there's nothing that can be done about it.

This could mean a big loss of momentum for Microsoft’s mobile OS. They’re still the new kid on the block trying to establish a reputation. This isn’t helping.

Ken Hong, an LG spokesman, couldn’t have made it any clearer when he told Bloomberg, “We’ve decided to put all new tablet development on the back burner for the time being in order to focus on smartphones.”

LG launched the Optimus Pad LTE earlier this year, but hasn’t been able to make any inroads against Apple, Amazon and Samsung in the tablet market. The South Korean electronics manufacturer will try to turn around its smartphone business by concentrating on its Optimus line of Android devices. Hong also noted that the company is still interested in making phones using Microsoft’s Windows Phone software.

Google is finally ready to show what it can do with its own brand of tablet. It’s called the “Nexus 7. ” We hear we’ll get a first look at it at next week’s Google I/O developer conference.

DigiTimes just reported a number of details about the Nexus 7 slate that seem to ring true. The DigiTimes source in the tablet’s supply chain claimed that Google’s next major Android release - Jelly Bean - would come in the second quarter. They also reported that Nexus tablet shipments would begin in June in preparation for a July launch.

Microsoft’s unveiling of its “Surface” tablet seems to be the start of a major effort by software wizards to become hardware masters. Google seems to be right behind. Google also has a few Android partners that help on the device building side. Some are developing their own software expertise. Just when we thought the only entertainment was going to be Apple against the rest of the world, it seems the natives have gotten restless.